2021年经济学人 刚果-海洋铁路——沾满鲜血的铁轨(2)

The railway was the idea of Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazza, an Italian-born French explorer who conquered much of central Africa for France “by exclusively peaceful means”.

这条铁路是意大利出生的法国探险家皮埃特罗·保罗·萨沃格南·迪·布拉扎的主意，他“完全通过和平手段”为法国征服了中非大部分地区。

The French state imagined itself as a bringer of civilisation¹ to Africa, and the railway was to provide a way for the Congolese to take part in world trade.

法国政府把自己想象成把文明带到非洲的人，而修建这条铁路是为了给刚果人提供一条参与世界贸易的途径。

Yet Mr Daughton shows how the colonial administration in Congo had little capacity to build a railway without violence:

然而，道顿指出，刚果殖民政府在不使用暴力的情况下几乎没有能力修建一条铁路：

it claimed to be recruiting paid volunteers while its agents forced Africans to work at gunpoint.

它声称招募有偿志愿者，而其代理人则用枪逼着非洲人工作。

Many were marched hundreds of kilometres to the tracks chained at the neck, as slaves had been a century before.

许多人像一个世纪前的奴隶一样，脖子上被铁链锁住，被押送到几百公里外的铁轨上。

Whatever work had to be done, reported Albert Londres, a French journalist, “it’s captives who do it.”

法国记者阿尔伯特·朗德雷斯报道称，无论要做什么工作，“都由俘虏来做。”

The evil caused by perverse² incentives³ recurs⁴ throughout the book.

由不正当动机引起的邪恶在整本书中反复出现。

The Societe de Construction des Batignolles, a contractor⁵, was assigned the job of producing the railway and paid a fixed⁶ fee.

承包商巴蒂尼奥勒建设公司被指派负责这条铁路的修建工作，并收到了固定的款项。

But whereas it had to provide machinery⁷ and skilled labour itself, the unskilled labour of Africans was given to it by the colonial state, practically free.

但是，尽管它必须自己提供机器和熟练劳动力，但非洲的非熟练劳动力却是由殖民国家提供的，几乎是免费的。

It was cheaper to replace workers who died with new ones than to keep them healthy.

用新的工人取代死去的工人比保持工人们的健康更便宜。

In 1925 one doctor estimated nearly a quarter of new workers would not survive a year.

1925年，一位医生估算，近四分之一的新工人活不过一年。

Surprisingly, the French state documented these abuses diligently⁸ (the archives provide the source of much of Mr Daughton’s information).

意外的是，法国政府勤奋地记录了这些虐待行为(档案提供了道顿先生的大部分信息来源)。

In 1926 one inspector⁹, Jean-Noel-Paul Pegourier, compared the treatment of workers on the railway to the German genocide of the Herero in Namibia before the first world war.

1926年，一名检查员让-诺埃尔-保罗·佩古里尔将铁路工人受到的待遇比作一战前德国在纳米比亚对赫雷罗人的种族灭绝。

Yet unlike the reports of Leopold’s abuses, these observations had little effect, not least because orders issued from Paris or even Brazzaville were simply ignored.

然而，与利奥波德虐待的结果不同的是，这些观察结果收效甚微，尤其是因为来自巴黎甚至布拉柴维尔的命令完全被忽视了。

Raphael Antonetti, the colonial governor, fought back with an avalanche¹⁰ of legalese.

殖民地总督拉斐尔·安东内蒂用连珠炮似的法律术语予以反击。

The railway was a masterpiece of engineering, as Mr Daughton readily admits.

正如道顿先生欣然承认的那样，这条铁路是一项工程杰作。

For decades it provided the only means of transporting goods within Congo.

几十年来，它是刚果境内唯一的货物运输途径。

The wealth of Brazzaville, still so named, was built on it.

布拉柴维尔（至今仍使用这个名字）的财富就建立在它的基础上。

In Britain and France, the infrastructure¹¹ bequeathed to former colonies is often cited as an argument for its benefits.

在英国和法国，遗留给前殖民地的基础设施经常被拿来作为证明其有利之处的理由。

But to build it, a weak and stingy state had to rely on brutality¹².

但是为了建立它，一个软弱而吝啬的国家不得不依靠残暴。

As Mr Daughton reports, “the Congo-Ocean provides an all-too-useful case in point for how the language of humanity could be invoked¹³ to explain the deaths of thousands.”

正如道顿所说的，“刚果-海洋铁路提供了一个非常有用的例子，展示了人类语言是如何被利用来为数千人的死亡辩解。”

1 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

2 perverse   

adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的

参考例句：

• It would be perverse to stop this healthy trend.阻止这种健康发展的趋势是没有道理的。
• She gets a perverse satisfaction from making other people embarrassed.她有一种不正常的心态，以使别人难堪来取乐。

3 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 recurs   

再发生，复发( recur的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This theme recurs several times throughout the book. 这一主题在整部书里出现了好几次。
• Leap year recurs every four years. 每四年闰年一次。

5 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

8 diligently   

ad.industriously;carefully

参考例句：

• He applied himself diligently to learning French. 他孜孜不倦地学法语。
• He had studied diligently at college. 他在大学里勤奋学习。

9 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

10 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

11 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

12 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

13 invoked   

v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• It is unlikely that libel laws will be invoked. 不大可能诉诸诽谤法。
• She had invoked the law in her own defence. 她援引法律为自己辩护。 来自《简明英汉词典》